Virginia's crew team will row in what might be their most difficult meet of the season tomorrow in Stanford, Ca. when they race a trio of PAC 10 schools: Cal, Stanford and Southern Cal.
The PAC 10, along with the Big 10, is one of the strongest conferences in the nation. Two of the teams the Cavaliers will face finished in the nation's top-ten last year.
To make matters even more complicated for Virginia, these teams have had about a two-month head start in water time. Virginia has had limited time on the water due to the winter weather on the East Coast.
"We've been on the water two weeks," Virginia coach Kevin Sauer said after the Cavaliers first meet of the season. The teams out west have "been on the water two months. And that's a big difference. So they've been out there slobbering, waiting for Michigan State, Ohio State and Virginia to come out there with none of us having any water time hardly. "
Virginia opened its season two weeks ago against Columbia and San Diego State. Virginia swept all its races, but the competition was not nearly as stiff as what they'll be facing this weekend.
"It's very competitive out there," Sauer said of the PAC 10 competition. "Cal returned seven of their eight rowers from last year's third place finish."
Virginia has had two weeks to prepare for this weekend's big regatta. The Cavaliers planned rigorous practices in preparation for a full race against top tier opponents, building their endurance and trying to pick up some speed.
"We'll just get sharper," Sauer said of what his team needed to do these past two weeks. "We can work on fitness some, but it's not a lot of time, so we've just got to get better. Better rowing, even more aggressive, slicker, really try to get things going a little bit better. We'll work on fitness, we'll work on pushing the rate up a little bit, extending how long we can sustain things."
Their tough practices and preseason training has instilled a sense of confidence in this year's Cavaliers. Team captain Claudia Durkin said they expect to be competitive this weekend.
"I feel like we're going to be really well prepared," she said. "We have a really tough week of training to get faster and pick up some speed before we get out there."
Last season the Cavaliers finished fourth in NCAA championships, just behind Cal. Both Cal and Stanford beat Virginia's first eight a year ago, but the Cavaliers finished ahead of both schools in all the other races.
Cal returns the most veteran squad. Seven of the Bears eight boat rowers have returned this year after finishing third in last years Championship race, but this doesn't dull the Cavaliers confidence.
"I feel extremely confident," Durkin said. "We're just going to go out there and show we've got it."
Tomorrow will tell whether the Cavaliers can overcome the discrepancy in water time and beat some of their stiffest competition.
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